SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Revitalising a classic adventure with awe-inspiring visuals and other welcome modern touches, the Shadow of the Colossus remake is held back only by awkward controls.
When it first graced PlayStation consoles in 2005, Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus was an adventure revolutionary in both its scope and style. To replicate and communicate that sense of awe and revolution would be the most any remake, remaster or reboot could ever hope to do. Having had the opportunity to play through this game, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Bluepoint Games have succeeded. Even fifteen years and two console generations later, Shadow of the Colossus has immense strength and impressive emotional weight.
Greater strength comes as a result of the striking contrast between past and present. Many modern games delight in narrative complexity, but Shadow of the Colossus remains a simple tale about the young man Wander and his horse on a quest to save someone he cares for deeply. The girl lies dead, and Wander has travelled deep into forbidden lands in search of answers. There he discovers the mysterious entity Dormin and strikes an exchange: should he seek out and slay the 16 colossi that roam these lands, Dormin will resurrect the girl. So begins an adventure that exists in the abstract, a fairy tale about love, mortality and human greed whose timelessness is only reinforced by its re-enactment on PlayStation 4.
At a time when games try to outdo one another by growing ever more complex, Shadow of the Colossus stands out immediately for the minimalism of its design and the way it frees the player from distraction. There are no fetch quests or side objectives; the player can upgrade Wander’s health and stamina by collecting various items, but these upgrades feel distant at best. Your main quest to slay the colossi is always at the forefront of your mind. Each level begins in the exact same way: Wander awakens at the game’s central temple and pinpoints the location of the next colossi by reflecting sunlight off his magic sword. Once he finds them, he must find a way to climb the creature and stab its weak points to bring down its health.
Each battle takes place in a special arena: the ruins of an ancient city lost to time, a vast stretch of sun-baked desert or in the depths of a murky lake for example. The original game’s idea that each colossi is a level in itself is still as fantastic today. No two are the same; every fight is an intricate puzzle to be solved and a spectacularly tragic set piece: an epic battle worthy of legend where every successful blow is a hard-fought achievement. At its heart, Shadow of the Colossus is a puzzle game about using your two weapons and the surrounding environment to gain an edge. The capabilities of modern graphics only amplify this effect to create an awe-inspiring sense of scale: at times, Wander seems little more than an ant in comparison to the creature that towers over him, as he clings with all his might to its fur as it sways in the breeze.
Modern touches are all welcome. The game leverages every bit of processing power the console can afford, creating dizzying heights and breath-taking vistas of a barren and empty world. The forbidden lands feel truly forbidden: a place where an entire civilization has crumbled and been reclaimed by the sands and the forests, and utterly devoid of human life. It’s an alien world that belongs to the otherworldly creatures that inhabit it, and with the PlayStation 4, you can see far across the horizon and appreciate just how alone Wander really is. Wander’s mere presence feels like an intrusion, and every colossi that falls is a tragedy.
In some unfortunate places however, the game misses out on these modern touches. The player has the option to use a modern control map, which still takes some getting used to even though it removes some of the confusion. Whatever controls you choose however, there appears to be no fixing the camera, which is a persistent annoyance. In some situations, the wonkiness can be forgiven, since you’re fighting giants, but it seems eager to bury your face in colossi fur, making it hard to pinpoint where exactly you are. In the same vein, riding Wander’s horse Agro can be frustrating. The idea seems to have been to give Agro a mind of its own, a puzzling development which means the horse refuses to go where you want it and gets stuck on terrain. Had Agro not been necessary in fighting a few colossi, this might have been forgivable.
Silly horse and camera aside, Shadow of the Colossus is an extraordinary experience. If you haven’t tried this game before now, then there’s no time like the present.
Comments